Pages

Tags

.hack// series (14) .hack//Infection (6) .hack//mutation (6) .hack//outbreak (7) .hack//quarantine (5) 1bitHeart (4) A Bird Story (1) A Mortician's Tale (1) Ability Up (11) About Love Hate and the Other Ones (1) Achievements (4) Ahriman's Prophecy (1) Aladdin (1) Alice Elliot (6) Alicemare (1) Alphadia Genesis (5) Amnesia: Memories (1) An Octave Higher (2) Analogue: A Hate Story (1) Anodyne (4) Artefact (2) Artefact Adventure (1) Aveyond (2) BAD END (2) Bad Service (1) Before I Forget (1) Best Armour (16) Best Weapons (26) Bestiary (1) Beyd (1) Bioshock Infinite (1) Black Home (1) Blitzball (1) Blush Blush (1) Boss Fight (1) Boyfriend Dungeon (1) Boyfriend Maker/Boyfriend Plus (1) Braid (8) Breath of Fire (24) Breath of Fire II (18) Breath of Fire III (37) Breath of Fire IV (25) Breath of Fire Series (10) Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter (4) Brothers (1) Casper (1) Cave Story (1) Celestian Tales: Old North (2) Cheat Engine (1) Cheats (1) Cinderella Phenomenon (3) Circuit Logic (1) Coffee Talk (1) Collectibles (11) competition (1) Completion Project (21) Confines of the Crown (1) Cozy Grove (1) crafts (1) Crash Bandicoot 2 (2) Croc: Legend of the Gobbos (2) Crush Crush (1) Crystal Story (2) Crystalline (1) Cubicle Quest (1) Dark Parables (5) Death Stranding (1) Deis (2) Deponia (1) Dèsirè (2) Dice (1) Discworld (1) Disgaea (1) Dreamworld (1) eBay (1) Ehrgeiz (3) Epic Battle Fantasy III (1) Equipment (3) eReader (1) Eternal Senia (1) Factorio (1) Fairy Village (1) Fanfiction (8) Final Fantasy (4) Final Fantasy II (2) Final Fantasy IV (3) Final Fantasy IX (7) Final Fantasy Series (5) Final Fantasy Tactics (1) Final Fantasy V (1) Final Fantasy VII (7) Final Fantasy VIII (10) Final Fantasy X (7) Final Fantasy X-2 (4) Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles (3) Fishing (11) Forget Me Not My Organic Garden (1) Freeware (8) Frontierville (1) Future Learn (1) Game (1) Game-Design (1) Ghost on the Shore (1) Ghost Trick (1) Giving Up (1) God Only Knows (1) Gone Home (1) Grunty (1) Guide (96) GymPact (1) Habitica (3) HabitRPG (3) Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (1) Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (1) Hex Manipulation (1) Hitman GO (1) Horizon Zero Dawn (2) HuniePop (1) I Love You Colonel Sanders! (1) Idle Evolution (2) Imposter Factory (1) incentive (4) Incomplete (7) Interpretation (11) iOS (1) IRL (4) Jewish Screenshots (1) Justice for All (1) Kingdom Come: Deliverance (1) Kobo (2) Kongregate (1) Koudelka (2) Labyrinthine Dreams (1) Lake of Voices (1) Later Alligator (3) Legacy Challenge (53) Level Grinding (3) Liar (1) Little Goody Two Shoes (1) Littlewood (1) Long Live the Queen (2) Lord of Twilight (1) Lost Phone Series (1) Manillo (2) Marie's Room (1) Masters (9) Memento (1) Minami Lane (1) Mini-Game (5) missed messages (1) Mobile (1) Monster Camp (1) Monster Magic (3) Monster Prom (4) Murder by Numbers (1) My Time at Portia (1) Nina Wyndia (2) Nintendo DS (1) No Case Should Remain Unsolved (1) non-gaming (3) Notes (20) Octopath Traveler (2) Official Guides (1) Online Courses (1) Pacman World (1) Pact (1) Paradise Killer (2) PC Building (1) Persona 4 (4) Pheonix Wright Ace Attorney (1) Phoenix Wright (7) Pikmin Bloom (1) Plague Inc (1) Playing All My Steam Games (5) Pokemon (1) Princess Maker 2 (4) Princess Maker Series (3) Programming (1) Project Zero (2) PSYCHO-PASS Mandatory Happiness (3) Quick Overview (2) Rant (2) Rebuild (1) Recettear (1) Review (14) Science Girls! (1) sewing (1) Shadow Hearts (3) Shadow Hearts Series (8) Shadow Hearts: Covenant (17) Shadows and Lies (1) Shopping List (5) Sidequest (12) Sims 3 (53) Skyrim (1) Solomon's Club (1) Speed Dating for Ghosts (1) Speed Run (1) Spiderman (2) Spring of Myst (1) Spyro (2) Star Ocean: Til the End of Time (2) Stardew Valley (1) Stat-Raising (6) Steam (2) Stories Untold (1) Storyline (7) Street Fighter (1) Super Mario World (1) Tailor Tales (1) Tales of Symphonia (2) Tarkov (3) Tarzan (1) The 11th Hour (1) The 13th Doll (1) The 39 Steps (1) The 7th Guest (1) The Banner Saga (5) The Crooked Man (2) The Forgotten City (1) The King's Request (1) The Novelist (1) The Path (1) The Quiet Man (1) The Sacred Tears TRUE (1) The Sexy Brutale (2) The Sims (54) The Suicide of Rachel Foster (2) the white chamber (1) The Yawhg (1) Theory (1) Thunderhawk (3) Tigger's Honey Hunt (1) Tips (1) To Be or Not to Be (1) To the Moon (1) Trivia (21) Turing Test (1) Unlimited Cash (4) Vampire Survivors (1) Vandal Hearts II (4) Visual Novel (1) Walking Over Alice's Grave (4) Women in Games (3) Work-in-Progress (4) X-Men: Mutant Academy 2 (1) Xenosaga (1) Yuna (3) Yuri Hyuga (8) Zero Escape (2) Zodiac Challenge (53)

Tuesday 20 July 2010

Braid: Overview

Braid is an indie 2D platformer/puzzle game, developed by Jonathan Blow, with artwork by webcomic artist David Hellman. It was released in April 2008 for the XBox 360, April 2009 for the PC, and May 2009 for the Mac.

I suck at descriptions, so here's a trailer.


...as you can see, the game's gorgeous, and, in game-play, it's a cross between Mario and Prince of Persia. Which makes the puzzles just that much more difficult.

Blow used his own money to fund the game, and has some very high opinions of and aspirations for it, which is fair enough really. It's a good game.

Where it really gets interesting is in the plot. Tim, little dude in a tux and tie, is searching for the Princess. The game starts in World 2, goes through 3, 4, 5 and 6, and ends with World 1, where Tim originally started. So, not quite as bad as Memento, in terms of following the timeline, but still a little bit tricky.

Each world manipulates time a little differently.  For instance, in World 4, time moves according to the direction Tim's moving - forward when he runs forwards, backwards when he goes backwards, still when he stays in the same place.  This makes pouncing on goombas a lot harder than it might sound.

The varying nature of time, along with having the beginning at the end, leads to an amazing moment in World 1.  I'm not going to spoil it here.  Blow also recommends not using guides, in order to enjoy the experience more.  I, personally, think that most gamers are capable of making that decision for themselves.  We know what guides do, and some of us are willing to trade the feeling of accomplishment for avoiding a feeling of frustration.  It's up to you.


Gameplay-wise, as you go through the worlds, there are a few things to collect. Namely, twelve jigsaw pieces per world, and eight stars throughout the game. As far as I know, only one thing is permanently missable, and that's one of the stars. Here's a hint - don't assemble the jigsaw for World 3 right away.

I first heard of Braid when I was idly browsing TV Tropes (again, no link - once you get sucked into that place, you never leave). It was on a page talking about frustrating puzzles, such as one of the stars, for which you need to spend two hours standing on a cloud. Yes, that's two hours of real time.

I followed a link to the description of Braid, and it sounded fascinating. Being broke at the time, I then watched DarthBlingBling's Let's Play of the game. Click on that at your own risk, it's spoileriffic.

Finally, when I started this Completion Challenge - that is, to finish every game in my collection, in alphabetical order - I knew I wanted Braid to be part of it. So, I bought it, through Steam, for £6.99, which is pretty damn reasonable.  Steam is one of the five recommended retailers on the Braid site, and the game's also available for the XBox 360, through the XBox Live Arcade.

No comments:

Post a Comment